BoI takes renewable energy to off-grid community in Anambra

Succour may have come the way of about 200 homes located in the Onono-Anam, Anambra west Local Council Area, as The Bank of Industry (BoI) connected off-grid solar project to eradicate black out in the community.

Acting Managing Director, BoI, Waheed Olagunju, who officially launched the project recently, disclosed that the bank had to apply special considerations to see to the reality of the project, which is one of six pilots embarked on across the country in collaboration with the UNDP, with a total exposure of about N240million.

“DFI’s globally are set up to intervene in sectors of the economy where market driven institutions will ordinarily not operate. So this initiative is a classic example, we had to tweak our terms and conditions to suit the circumstance of the programme.

“Normally we lend over an average of six to seven years at 10 per cent, but in this case we had to double the tenure to 15 years and reduced the interest rate from 10 per cent to seven per cent. That is because the cash flow in this rural area cannot viably service our normal terms.

“Also in terms of security, our fixed asset coverage is normally two, so we had to tweak this such that we have an all asset debenture on the equipment on ground and the personal guarantees of the project promoters who are internationally acclaimed solar energy experts recognised by the United States government, AfDB and General Electric,” he said.

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Amukoko

Solar and indeed, solar farms, the way to go in terms of energy strategy in Nigeria.

Izonebi

All the government needs to do is create easier access for companies to come in for generation and distribution in capture areas. A company can after feasibility studies pick a community it can supply energy through solar farms but we need government to liberalise entry but ensure regulation and standards are maintained.

emmanuel kalu

This is the kind of projects that the government needs to be funding and encouraging across the country. we need to decentralize electricity generation and distribution. we need to use all source of energy especially wind and solar. if the government can fund lower interest rate for business to install solar panels, it would go a long way in helping the electricity situation. it would create jobs and take the pressure off the national grid that need major work.